At least one powerful Republican member of the US House of Representatives takes a dim view of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) wending it way through the House.
"The bottom line is you've got to throw it away," said Darrell Issa (R-CA), an 11-year veteran of the House Judiciary Committee, chairman of the House Oversight …

COMMENTS

A politician with sense?!?!?

No, but rather...

No, not a politician with sense but rather a politician who numbers Google among his constituents and is certainly expecting a large pay-off from them. Or, perhaps we could say, Yes, a politician with sense enough to know on which side his bread is buttered.

hope it fails

Have to admit going after the site payment options will hurt sites more than banning them will, one of the problems with non technical politciians making up laws is that they do not consider all the effects of the laws.

Switzerland has stated that file sharing is not a crime for them, sweden does not seem to care all that much and most p2p sites have multiple domains to guard against the .com domain being removed.

Other side of the coin

They're all bought and paid for. Issa by Google and Lamar by the Hollywood studios. You can't get elected in America without hundreds of millions in campaign contributions. The only place to get that is big corporations. If you don't do what they tell you to, then that money goes to their opponent in the next election. The lesson gets learned quickly!

SOPA is a dangerous, and worse, ineffectual bill. But have no doubt, they'll push it thru and then come back for more power when it fails too.

Re: Issa one of the best politicians you can buy...

Actually, not all monetary concerns are that simple. Issa probably CAN'T be bought quite that simply, he has too much money of his own. On the other hand, NO ONE with that much money doesn't have his own vested interests. It would take someone with the virtues of a saint to ignore those interests, and I've never really noticed a tendency for saints to get elected to high public office.

There are real human beings on both sides in Yankville. Unfortunately they hardly get the podium or the cameras what with the nutters having setup permanent dwellings therein. Too bad that. America needs that third party to represent the majority of them stranded in the middle who see it all as Shakespear did... to be an arse or not to be an arse.

Once, just once...

Once, just once, I'd love someone like this to be promoting sanity in the legal arena not because their paymasters dictate it (as I think the case is here) but simply because it's what he/she actually believe.

If only it were possible to get elected without having to have vast paymasters in the first place. The internet proves it's possible for ordinary people to be propelled to previously-unheard of fame or infamy. Maybe it's time we really started using these tools in a way to make another change for the better.

Anti-SOPA blackout day

Just to say that some sites (the largest being Reddit.com) are planning an anti-SOPA 'blackout' day for the 18th of January. This is to show what effect such legislation would have on many sites. If Google themselves were to consider the same and, say, just show some text saying why they have blocked their site that day and how to contact the user's local politician, then I'm sure the garbage that is SOPA and PIPA would get attention even from news outlets owned by supporters of it.

Both SOPA and PIPA are very, very nasty bits of legislation, being pushed entirely by corporate greed.

I honestly don't get it

I couldn't give a fig what his motivations are and can't really understand why anyone else would either. Or are we saying we'd rather sit on a high horse than have someone, anyone, oppose this crappy bill.

Oh nasty man!

Separate the issues

The money that runs US politics is a serious issue, but SOPA needs debate on its lack of merits. Surprised to hear it from a Republican rep, even more so from one who appears to understand how things actually work. Give the man a break.

A simple question

Why is there a cynical assumption that because Congressman Issa opposes a position that Google's apparent enemies support it so follows that he is on Google's payroll. A quick search does not show Google among his most generous 39 donors? Is it possible that he understands that SOPA (and PIPA) are blatant rent seeking aimed at perpetuation a technologically obsolescent and ultimately failing business model? Just asking.

There are smart Republicans ?????

The wonder of redistricting ...

Californians yanked the redrawing of the district boundaries away from the legislature and gave it to a citizen elected committee.

Lots of previously heavily gerrymandered districts got cleaned up, and suddenly congresscritters who were safe now need to pay attention to the other side. The only districts that look kinda screwy to me are Bakersfield/Fresno, and I suspect that Federal rules might have driven that.

Issa now suddenly has a bunch of Democrats in his district that had been surgically removed before. I don't think he's in trouble, but his "red" (safe Republican) district is now quite a bit more "purple" (mixed Republican/Democrat). I suspect he's trying to position himself better toward independents.

And that's exactly what the redistricting was supposed to do--make candidates more responsive to the center.

All they do is complain and complain....

Bob Roberts, great film download it...

Seriously folks, ONE politician is standing up and protesting against a seriously f*d up bill with sensible arguments. Who cares about his motives? Is it possible he might actually be trying to protect First Amendment rights and the constitution from being permanently fragged for all Internet users? I wish there were a few more like him